Village Capital is set to deploy $4M into startups in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Village Capital, is working in collaboration with the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
“No single investor can be an expert in every context—and that’s why this partnership matters,” said Nathaly Botero, Innovations Manager at Village Capital. “This model allows us to invest across markets while staying grounded in local realities. For us, this isn’t just about sourcing deals, it’s about making smarter, more informed investments by working alongside those already building and strengthening their entrepreneurial communities.”
The five Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs): Reach for Change (Ghana), Africa Fintech Foundry and Fate Foundation (Nigeria), and Anza Entrepreneurs and Ennovate Ventures (Tanzania) will work as Village Capital’s Venture Partners for the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), a USD 4M initiative for startups enhancing economic mobility and climate resilience in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
The AECF takes an ecosystem-embedded approach to investment by collaborating with locally-led ESOs to enable a more effective deployment of capital, anchored in deep local insight, to startups developing solutions that improve livelihoods, drive financial inclusion, and enhance resilience to climate change.
Startups in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania play a crucial role in addressing regional challenges, including improving access to jobs, financial tools, clean energy, and climate-resilient infrastructure. However, early-stage founders often struggle to secure appropriate capital to scale these solutions. The AECF aims to bridge these gaps by investing appropriately-structured capital and aligning the investment process with the insights of ESOs who know these markets best.
By investing in high-impact startups and empowering ESOs as co-evaluators in the investment process, the AECF seeks to strengthen the broader entrepreneurial ecosystems in each country and accelerate the flow of appropriate, early-stage capital to where it’s needed most.